1766 in poetry

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).

Events

 * German poet and critic Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg begins publication of his Briefe über Merkwürdigkeiten der Litteratur in which he formulates the literary principles of Sturm und Drang.

Works published

 * Mark Akenside, An Ode to the Late Thomas Edwards
 * John Cunningham, Poems, Chiefly Pastoral
 * Isaac D'Israeli, The Literary Character
 * John Freeth, The Political Songster
 * Oliver Goldsmith, editor, Poems for Young Ladies, an anthology published this year, although the book states "1767"
 * Francis Hopkinson, "A Psalm of Thanksgiving", English, Colonial America
 * Charles Jenner, Poems
 * Thomas Letchworh, "A Morning and Evening's Meditation; or, A Descant on the Times", English, Colonial America
 * Henry James Pye, Beauty
 * Anna Williams, Miscellanies in Prose and Verse

Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * January 3 - Nguyễn Du (died 1820), Vietnamese poet
 * April 27 - Vasily Pushkin (died 1830), Russian poet
 * October 11 - Nólsoyar Páll (lost at sea c.1808), Faroese merchant and poet
 * December 3 - Robert Bloomfield (died 1823), English "ploughboy poet"
 * Maharaja Chandu Lal (died 1845), Indian Urdu- and Persian-language poet and politician
 * Martha Llwyd (died 1845), Welsh poet and hymnodist

Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * September 23 - John Brown (born 1715), English clergyman, essayist and poet
 * c. November - Catherine Jemmat, née Yeo (born c.1714), English memoirist and anthologist
 * December 12 - Johann Christoph Gottsched (born 1700), German critic
 * December 24 - James Grainger (born c.1721), Scottish-born doctor, poet and translator, of "West Indian fever" in Saint Kitts
 * Robert Andrews (born 1723), English Presbyterian minister, poet and translator, insane
 * Hazin Lahiji (born 1692), Persian poet and scholar